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As it has for many journalists, my job has drastically changed in the past five years.

I used to only write articles and columns, to which editors added headlines and then placed on a particular page in the print newspaper, which was delivered to people’s homes.

I followed a professional code of ethics stressing accuracy, fairness, balance and avoiding conflicts of interest, such as not joining political parties or writing about companies in which we might own shares.

But now, in addition to these traditional newspaper duties, I also write and edit a blog read by about 6,000 people a week, feed Twitter with 140-character messages, host a Facebook page, take part in online video conversations, publish online interactive maps and am trying my hand at podcasting.

It’s mostly fun, if a little crazy. And it’s much looser on the Internet. The days of fearsome editors controlling every comma are largely over. When it comes to trying to build a distinct Internet presence, I'm hardly alone. Some Vancouver Sun journalists do more than me on the World Wide Web.

However, what is happening for journalists at The Sun is not the only revolution in journalism today. It is equally significant that we “mainstream journalists” have been joined by tens of thousands of online “journalists” who largely operate on their own or in small clusters.

And most of these new Internet communicators, working with great passion, have never been exposed to any sort of training in ethics.

There is a slogan going around: “We’re all journalists now.”

But what does it mean? Sometimes we’re called “mainstream journalists.” Other times we’re “citizen journalists.” Or “participatory journalists.” Or “journalist advocates.” Or “issue journalists.” Or “open journalists.”

And what is the shared code of conduct guiding this Wild West swirl of borderless journalists, who focus less on “impartial reporting” and more on analysis, advocacy and interpreting news?

No one knows.

Stephen Ward, former head of the University of B.C. journalism program, is trying to help us figure out an answer. He’s doing so for the sake of democracy, truth and maybe planetary survival.

Much depends upon how we resolve the mind-boggling issues that people like Ward, a veteran war correspondent who is now director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are trying to wrestle into some semblance of coherence.

In a recent lecture at the University of B.C., Ward said the mass media began being associated in the 19th century with the establishment. As such, journalists took on the role of the Fourth Estate — acting as intermediaries between national governments and the public.

Mainstream journalists have largely seen their ethical role as providing the public with accurate information that reflects many aspects of important issues. We've seen citizens as dutiful people who take in information from the media and then vote.

For the sake of democracy, the media have tried to avoid audiences breaking down into mutually suspicious factions.

But the media business has increasingly become a messy and global one. And Ward says some media giants, such as Rupert Murdoch’s News International, have come to be linked with scandal-mongering, profit-at-all costs and partisanship. Such developments have led to increasing cynicism about the media, as well as disengagement.

Ward doesn’t want anyone to misunderstand him. Despite downsizing and upset in the mainstream news industry, the standard issues in journalism ethics are still important — the ones revolving around balance, concentration of media ownership, offering a diversity of voices and committing to “serving the public.”

But what we also need now — when two billion people around the globe are hooked into the Internet — are new values that reflect the explosion of digital journalism, which is usually brazenly activist and biased.

Few online citizen journalists pretend to be impartial. Internet journalists tend to zero in on single issues — such as the environment, immigration, a spiritual movement, economic reform, a moral cause or a disease.

As a result, there is no longer a single grand “public.” There are fragmented collections of people, sometimes called “micro-publics.”

University of Wisconsin journalism professor Hernando Rojas uses the term “metso-level publics” to describe the audiences served by digital journalists.

That is, digital journalists are often in contact with medium-sized “communities,” which are smaller than the those of the CBC or The Vancouver Sun, but are significantly larger than a collection of Facebook “friends.” These collaborative online communities have some clout.

Unfortunately, their “journalism” is frequently characterized by vitriol, ranting and exaggeration. So there is little trust among general audiences that information many digital journalists present as “fact” is reliable.

However, even though some worry it’s all bull on the Internet, Ward believes it’s mostly just different. Every new media technology comes with cons and pros.

For instance, online journalists have helped galvanize “metso-level publics” during the ongoing Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East. Similar digital communities in Latin America have often promoted thoughtful social conversation, Rojas said. They have “modulated political extremes.”

Since the influence of digital media is likely to grow in the future, what are some ethical ground rules journalists could consider looking to for guidance?

Here are three:

• Respect the Rules of Dialogue:

The Internet journalism engaged in by The Sun and countless other smaller outlets reflects thousands of different “publics” trying to shape society’s direction. However, it’s impossible to be taken seriously by other communities if you’re constantly in rant mode, like radio host Rush Limbaugh. That means digital journalists have to learn how to communicate with other publics through dialogue. They have to respect differences and not fight for “winner takes all.”

• Responsibility to Engage:

With the rise of online journalism, there is no excuse for backing out of democratic debate and action. Everyone can become part of an online journalistic forum advancing his or her issues on an international scale. As Ward says: “Media ethics is now media activism.” The digital media need to be governed somewhat like combatants in war; online journalists need to follow moral rules while vigorously engaging in the battle of ideas.

• Commit to “Reasonableness”

Online journalists, including commentators and advocates, need to follow an ethic of “reasonableness,” Ward says. That requires being transparent about oneself and one’s biases. It also means striving for what traditional journalists might call “pragmatic objectivity,” by which a journalist shows he or she can accurately reflect a dissenting viewpoint.

Most online journalism is interpretation, laden with strong emotions. Therefore, as the great philosopher John Dewey once put it, online journalists, indeed all journalists, must help their readers and viewers “educate the emotions.”

Todd: ‘We’re all journalists now,’ but at what cost?

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